Dicono che siamo la generazione della precarietà - immersi in una società liquida, eccetera eccetera. E hanno anche ragione, chiaramente. Però non mi spiego tutto questo meravigliarsi: cosa c'è di tanto inusuale nel constatare che tutta la nostra esistenza è precaria?
Svariati secoli avanti Cristo c'erano già arrivati, ammettendo che solo un soffio è l'uomo che vive. Un attimo: è già passato. E accumula ricchezze e non si sa chi le raccolga (Sal 39). Il fatto è che l'esperienza ha sempre insegnato all'uomo: duramente, ma bene. Un po' come quei terribili professori che facevano sudare il sei, ma alla fine la materia la insegnavano davvero. Si può magari aver da ridire su come sia fatto il mondo - e il suo Creatore ci dovrà spiegare un bel po' di cosette, a suo tempo - però bisogna dire che la precarietà della vita è proprio una cosa semplicissima, facilissima da capire: basta guardarsi intorno. E se anche uno volge la testa dall'altra parte: wham!, la vita ci colpisce comunque: malattie, carestie, ed eventualmente anche morte.
Eppure, forse per la prima volta dall'alba del mondo, in queste ultime generazioni l'uomo si era quasi sentito sicuro. Sarà stato il benessere; l'assenza di guerre che ci coinvolgessero da vicino; le allegre e ingannevoli cifre del PIL; il moltiplicarsi delle assicurazioni - furto incendio vita, tutto; la meravigliosa invenzione dell'undo, quell'"annulla ultima operazione" che chi usa il computer ha imparato ad apprezzare. Tante comodità che ci hanno illuso, ovattando i rischi del mondo e la nostra consapevolezza insieme. Il problema è che la precarietà dell'uomo rimane. Attenuata, forse, con i nostri medici e maniglie antipanico e backup dati, ma rimane. La morte rimane: è quel genere di nemico che l'uomo non è in grado di sconfiggere.
Forse allora il malessere della precarietà arriva da una disillusione. Pensavamo che il progresso riuscisse a risolvere tutti i nostri problemi; e invece. Invece ci ritroviamo a barcollare di fronte a qualcosa di così comune come la morte; e siamo disorientati quando il nostro sistema sociale, in piena crisi, non riesce a garantire a chi arriva adesso le condizioni e opportunità che solo pochi anni fa avevamo.
Proviamo allora ad aprire gli occhi e leggere con intelligenza ciò che la vita ci continua a raccontare: la nostra insufficienza. Motivo di depressione? Non per il cristiano, che proseguendo nel salmo scopre:Ora, che attendo, Signore? In te la mia speranza. Speranza di un amore che riceviamo quotidianamente, e perché no: di una gioia futura. E possa questa speranza alimentare la consapevolezza di essere solo un soffio, facendoci abbandonare presunzioni e pretese sulla vita, in favore di quel pane quotidiano che il Padre non ci negherà (se davvero ci accontentiamo di quello); e possa questa speranza alimentare la consapevolezza di essere fratelli di tutti gli uomini: fratelli che non abbiamo scelto, semplicemente trovato. E però fratelli, con cui condividere ciò che di buono sappiamo e abbiamo della vita.
Here's something of Jesus I always admired: his way to look at the people and at the whole world. A true look, eyes clear and sincere. He never looked the other way: he received everyone, problems and sins comprised. He didn't neglect the problems people had in them: on the contrary, he made those problems surface, were people could see them and take a decision, with the full freedom we are given (see Luke 19,8 and Mark 10,22 for different story ends). He looked at the world and he saw God's fingerprint on it - and it was good. He looked at the world and he saw God's message for him. (Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. John 12,24). Then: eyes wide open, so that we can see the world like Jesus did. I don't wanna be like those hearing without listening*.
And if we can't see right, may Jesus give us a pair of glasses of his:
Thanks to Cesare for his beautiful insights on Jesus * Paul Simon, The Sound of Silence
Hi all - I'm still alive, you know. I have just some 4 exams to cope with at university, so I'm busy enough to forget posting something on this little space.
Today I'm posting a little info about me; on the style I'd like to follow on information&technology matters.
A little history... I was an early MS Windows user, spending whole hours of my teenages meddling with hardware and software - of course I was nothing like those geniuses from Silicon Valley, not even a geek, but you could say I was a computer enthusiast.
Somewhen near 15 years old I installed my first Linux system - the result was immediate: master boot record deleted, a mission impossible-like data backup, and complete reinstall of Windows. I was a bit scorched, you know.
Years later I was intrigued by Ubuntu - a giant step towards a real usability in Linux, they said. I was still running Win XP and of course I wasn't very happy with it - ok: it was stable and it could run games, but the price was regular format-and-reinstall-all to avoid extreme performance loss. Besides, university brought about a renewed interest for extreme performance applications for numerical mathematics; and I had no more time for gaming, just a few frags occasionally.
It was time to change, and Ubuntu was the way.
Nowadays I use Linux Ubuntu on a regular basis - I boot on WinXP only to manage a few devices with Windows-based drivers, but the frequency is getting very low.
All of this blog is Windows-free: I write with Google Documents in Firefox; the title banner was created with Gimp, and I'm quite proud of it. You can see I'm budget minded: why to spend money when you can get nearly equivalent products (sometimes better products) for free? And if it's Open Source Software, it's even better.
Just a final note: as I constantly tell people who don't know about Linux: - 'Ubuntu' comes from a zulu word which means "humanity to others" - 'Windows' means just windows.
Nowadays I watch TV only a few times a month - there's nearly nothing appealing, and I usually have many things more interesting and important to do. But when I was a child, I used to watch Zecchino d'Oro, a children-sung children song contest. Those little boys and girls sang in front of a mic, sometimes bursting in tears, sometimes letting out unlikely musical notes; but they were usually good, and some of these songs were -and still are- very good. I built my childhood on these!
Anyway, just a week ago - my little bro ill at home - we turned the TV on, and there it was, Zecchino d'oro! I listened for a while, and a particular song hit me, for its great practical message (incidentally, it revealed itself to be the winner of this edition). It was called "Le piccole cose belle", which I translated to the title of the post. You can see it here on YouTube.
It's just a simple, true song, which can enlighten your day with its funny melody and wise words.
I'll try to translate it for you:
Small nice things - sung by Alice Risolino - music by L Saccol I invented a new game, so I won't get bored, I'll get a new blank sheet and with a pen I'll write. All the things I like, those I'd like to have, what makes me happy. Try to write them down you too... you too.
When I wake up and there's snow, maybe I won't go to school, Everything's white, quiet: there's no traffic in the town. A pillow fight, a hen with her chicks, a car that stops, I'll eventually cross the road (*).
These are the small nice things which make our life nice, When they happen and you didn't expect them, a smile will appear. Thse are the small nice things which give happiness and change your day if you live them with simplicity.
A good mark on the excercise book, dad's smile, a recently missed cartoon episode. A friend who invites you, your favorite dish, an holiday so you can sleep a little more... a little more.
A small cat playing, a cream puff, an orange juice glass and thirst's away. An unexpected present, a nice fragrant flower and the stories of a book you always read to me.
These are the small nice things which make our life nice, When they happen and you didn't expect them, a smile will appear. Thse are the small nice things which give happiness and change your day if you live them with simplicity.
If the night has no stars, how awful is the darkness, read the nice things list and the sun will be back!
These are the small nice things which make our life nice, When they happen and you didn't expect them, a smile will appear. Thse are the small nice things which give happiness and change your day if you live them with simplicity. With simplicity.
(*) This refers to the fact that in Italy car drivers tend not to stop and make pedestrians cross.
This afternoon I went to the local supermarket to volunteer for the food collection - that means wearing a yellow plastic mantle and ambushing people who enter the market, explaining them the goals of the collection, and giving them bags they can fill with a part of their shopping.
Three of the children of my Sunday Christian class were with me, and we had a lot of fun together. The three little girls tackled everyone with big eyes and smart smiles; me, I took care of the stiffest cases. When we had a moment of pause, we discussed the most interessing cases - people who ignored us, others who smiled and caressed the children...
But the fact that stuck me most was realizing how good it was when a reciprocal smile was exchanged. People I had never seen and would never see again, people with grim faces, busy and stressed and worried were surprised by the smile of a complete stranger; a smile directed exactly at them. Unexpected, unbalancing. Warming. The smile was always returned, often with something like a silent 'thanks': for breaking the grey narrow routine they were in - and a never written law of our society, which warns about speaking to strangers. Making us forget the warming power of humanity.
Here's a note: never lose a chance to smile at passers by :)
Sometimes it's good to think about the basics of our lives, about things so everyday-like that we consider them as obvious, free. Carefully peering into the depths of a man's life is always a fascinating experiment, and something which made me think of choosing faculties like Philosophy or Psychology at university.
Anyway, today I rediscovered the importance of Time. Time's a very complicated thing, which overcomes man with its incredibile power, indifference, inescapability. But we're used to name it in more easily manipulated bits: past, present, future. Since we live immersed in Time, we're quite apt at knowing when do we live; but in the same time, we're so easily taken in.
To the simple question "When do you live?", anyone would answer: "Now, in the present". But can we realize the importance and the innumerable meanings of such a sentence?
Present is our time, and present means all the people and things we are near to precisely now. Here's a question: are you doing your best with those you're near to, or are you "saving energy" for some other times, places, or people? Are you focused on the problems and joys of here and now, or are you living somewhere or somewhen else? We must remember that it's in the present that we meet other people; it's in the present that our ability to be happy and to make people happy is tested; in the present and nowhere else.
What about past or future? They're too often overestimated, I fear.
Past can and should be a foundation for ourselves: something like a rock to rely on when difficult times come; experience which can help us to carry on our choices in everyday life. But it is no more. Past won't come back, and this is a very good thing, because it means that our past errors don't have the last word on us: we always have the power to choose (at least to choose how to consider the events of life); and that every moment of our life is worth living, since happiness is to be pursuited every moment. We must watch out, since past can often be a trap; we can however break the trap by realizing what past really is: the result of our present till now - you can see its slavery to present.
Future is mostly diabolical: it is no more than a ghost, easily swept away by a single thought, vague, often more fiction-like than real. And yet, it brings fears for the morrow, freezing and clutching people with the power of dreaded failures, preventing them from doing their best in the present, in this way corrupting their past too. Sure, it can be a propellent for hope of change, but too often brings a distorted hope, an indefinite one, set in an indefinite future. Real hope nourishes itself of the actions of the present, otherwise it is dream, rather than hope.
Time's a very complicated thing and something very interesting to investigate on. It is therefore possibile that in some future I'll write something more about it. :) Till then, remember: embrace present, the right time to live in!
